November
13, 2003

PHOTO BY DIANE CHIDDISTER
Gail Littlejohn, right, founder of Our Own Image, a new direct-sales
business within The Antioch Company, with Edie Calloway, left,
product manager, and Florence Randolph, sales support specialist.

Antioch
Co. invests in African-American culture

When Gail Littlejohn’s children were young, she
tried over and over to find books and toys that reflected her children’s
African-American heritage. But mainly she found in those books and toys
only white children’s faces, so she got out a brown crayon and began
coloring.

By the time Littlejohn’s oldest daughter was grown
and having children of her own, things were a little better, but not much.
When she looked for baby shower accessories with images of African-American
babies, Littlejohn once again turned up empty-handed.

Energized by those years of fruitless searches and stories
of friends’ similar frustrations, Littlejohn and her daughter Erica
Littlejohn Burnette took matters into their own hands. Recently, in conjunction
with The Antioch Company, the two women founded Our Own Image, a company
that produces products to honor celebrations and family events in the
lives of African-Americans.

“African-Americans
have been looking for these products for years,” Littlejohn said
in an interview Monday. “The products currently on the market don’t
offend us but they don’t include us either. We’re creating
new products to help inspire African-Americans.”

Since the company
was launched in August, the new product line has met with enthusiasm,
according to Littlejohn, and in two months the company has already signed
up 54 consultants from across the country. A direct-sales company, Our
Own Image sells its products through consultants, the women (and a few
men) who host product parties in their homes, then receive a percentage
of sales.

Our Own Image’s
mission, according to its sales literature, involves “women helping
women celebrate life events and preserve a rich history of family and
friends.” That mission seems reflected in the tables full of more
than 50 products at company headquarters inside The Antioch Company’s
Dayton Street facility, products that would accompany most family or holiday
celebrations.

For Christmas, the
company offers stockings and tree skirts decorated with African-American
Santas and angels, along with holiday cards, ornaments and giftbags. Products
for baby showers include invitations, cups, plates, napkins and cutlery
decorated with an African-American infant. Party supplies include plates,
cups and ceramic hors d’oeuvre plates painted with images of dancing
African-American couples. And family reunions can be remembered in a keepsake
journal whose front cover is a print of original art by Clifford Darrett.

The company also
offers a teapot and cups decorated with a group of African-American female
friends and several home decor products, including canisters, potholders,
dish towels, aprons and cutting boards, all decorated with an image of
an African-American chef.

While some other
companies do offer specialized items for the African-American community,
such as art prints or decorations, “no one has put them together
to focus on life events and help us celebrate,” said Littlejohn,
who researched existing businesses before creating her company.

Our Own Image used
focus groups to help choose its product lines, she said, and those groups
helped the company refine its approach.

“We found that
African-Americans were very sensitive to caricatures,” said Littlejohn,
who is also the president of the Dayton school board. “They want
real images” that could portray their own mothers, fathers or children
in a positive way. Consequently, many of the products are decorated with
original artwork by African-American painters such as Ronnie Williams
of Dayton or Clifford Darrett.

While the company
offers more than 50 products now, its product line will continually expand,
said Product Manager Edie Calloway, who’s responsible for coming
up with ideas as well as finding ways to implement those ideas. Each quarter
the company will produce seasonal products, such as black history products
for the winter quarter, graduation and wedding shower products for the
spring, home decor for summer and holiday products for the fall.

When Littlejohn and
Burnett first envisioned their company, they expected to create products
to retail in stores. But while marketing their venture, they met Yellow
Springs resident Evan Scott, who works for a Dayton public relations firm.
Scott encouraged the women to explore collaborating with The Antioch Company,
which includes the direct-sales business, Creative Memories.

After meeting with
The Antioch Company CEO Lee Morgan, Littlejohn visited the Creative Memories
headquarters in St. Cloud, Minn., to get a close look at how direct-sales
businesses work. When she realized that the direct-sales approach means
that her company’s profits would benefit women in the African-American
community rather than multinational corporations, she decided to sign
on.

“It made sense
to me that profits wouldn’t go to Wal-Mart but into the pockets
of African-Americans,” she said.

In addition to financial
gain, Our Own Image consultants will find themselves part of a network
of like-minded women who want them to succeed and will help them do so,
said Littlejohn. The company offers extensive training and support to
its consultants, she said, and next August will host a three-day “Jubilee”
to bring consultants together from all over the country.

The direct-sales
industry is watching the new venture closely, Morgan said, explaining
that in recent decades direct sales has not done well in the African-American
community, perhaps because historically such businesses often exploited
people of color with “get-rich-quick” schemes and other scams.
But he forecasts a different outcome for Our Own Image.

“I’m
betting on Gail and Erica,” he said. “We have some talented
people with a passion for their mission.”